Sharpton: Holder Best AG On Civil Rights In U.S. History

The resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder is met with both pride and disappointment by the Civil Rights community.

We are proud that he has been the best Attorney General on civil rights in U.S. history and disappointed because he leaves at a critical time when we need his continued diligence most. We are engaged in immediate conversations with the White House on deliberations over a successor whom we hope will continue in the general direction of Attorney General Holder.

His accomplishments in working to protect American’s from terrorism, fighting to protect voter rights, challenging unfair sentencing, directing U.S. attorneys on fair prosecution, and being the only Attorney General to visit the site of a civil rights complaint in Ferguson must be noted in American history.

Though we would have liked to have seen other areas more aggressively dealt with, such as closing Guantanamo Bay, his general service has been more than exemplary. As I stood with the families of Michael Brown of Ferguson, MO and Eric Garner of Staten Island, NY, and called on the Justice Department totake over the criminal investigation of those cases at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. today, we hope Attorney General Holder will authorize thisbefore his departure or that it becomes the first order of business for his successor.

Policing of Americans is the critical challenge of today, especially Blacks and Browns in particular. We will aggressively pursue the Justice Department’s involvement in dealing with these matters in his remaining days and in the days ahead of his successor.